Off Topic · World Cup 2010! (page 5)

What are the chances I get my ass beat walking around Astoria (Greek stronghold) wearing my Korea gear on Saturday?

I'm glad I won't have to wait long to watch team France play its opener. I'll be in front of my TV for the England USA match as well...

World Cup is the bigget event in sports, you can't imagine the buzz over here in Europe... it's just everywhere, in every talk, ...

FrenchKnicks wrote:I'm glad I won't have to wait long to watch team France play its opener. I'll be in front of my TV for the England USA match as well...

World Cup is the bigget event in sports, you can't imagine the buzz over here in Europe... it's just everywhere, in every talk, ...

You know, Im glad you posted Frenchie cuz I have a serious question for you.

How the hell does Domenech still have a job?!?!? He must be the worst coach ive ever seen internationally and ive seen some stinkers! Seriously, the amount of wring decisions and bad results the guys has to his name are endless. He must have some kind of sex tape of the French FA or something, cuz I just dont get it.

1 more day!!!!!

firefly wrote:

FrenchKnicks wrote:I'm glad I won't have to wait long to watch team France play its opener. I'll be in front of my TV for the England USA match as well...

World Cup is the bigget event in sports, you can't imagine the buzz over here in Europe... it's just everywhere, in every talk, ...

You know, Im glad you posted Frenchie cuz I have a serious question for you.

How the hell does Domenech still have a job?!?!? He must be the worst coach ive ever seen internationally and ive seen some stinkers! Seriously, the amount of wring decisions and bad results the guys has to his name are endless. He must have some kind of sex tape of the French FA or something, cuz I just dont get it.

He's coached more games with the French national team than any other coach in the history. He qualified the team to every major competition since he was hired (and even though we had a wonderful team in the late 90s, a qualification is never a given). And finally, we went to the World Cup Final in 2006, losing to Italy in the shootout...

It's quite hard to say that he's a bad coach, let alone "the worst coach" !

Now, I might not agree with his choices, but he's doing what he thinks is best for the team. Everybody in France hated Aimé Jacquet before we won the World Cup in '98, so you just have to root for your team and hope for the best. That's what amazing in tournaments like this one, anything can happen, and that's why it's so exciting :)

yeah, domenech probably has his job because of the performance the team had when he was in charge earlier, but he is a lame duck now, with the french fa naming petit coach after the world cup few weeks ago. the speculation is that perhaps the team knowing he will be gone can ease tensions and speculation about his tenure...in other words minimize the distractions, which haven't exactly been few after "le hand of god" goal...

as for the feelings about the world cup in the u.s...

in nyc i think the hype is pretty high.

i believe there is a strong following and growing excitement amongst many. you do hear people talking about it, and there are more posters and advertisements on television than ever this year (on 116th street and lexington ave, i believe, there is a pretty big mural of messi on the side of a building).

obviously i'm very, very excited. it's my favorite sport event, unless of course the knicks make it to the finals again...i ain't holding my breath... the problem with most press coverage, at least on espn, talk radio, etc. is that most of the big announcers/hosts/former sportscenter hosts, don't know jack about the sport (except for the experts they put on to talk about it). like chris berman and stuart scott are nfl guys, whatever his name is levy (?) does hockey, karl ravech baseball. anyway, i hear stupid comments all of the time on espn that make them sound ignorant, "if this is a friendly i wonder what a hostile is like?." fortunately this time the announcers are world class, at least those doing the play by play, so we don't have to hear a baseball announcer who doesn't understand how to call the sport.

anyway, yes, some sports fans in this nation still see soccer as "boring" and "sissy." of course, this is not the case as one gets to understand the beauty of the game. i do believe that negative attitude is declining pretty rapidly, and there are plenty of diehard soccer fans like me here too who love the game.

anyone care to make some predictions for groups and the knockout stages?

I got laid off at the end of May (just finished three years of contract work with Fidelity Investments), as it happens the timing allows me to watch all the games from start to finish while I am still looking for employment. This thing can't start soon enough!

loweyecue wrote:I got laid off at the end of May (just finished three years of contract work with Fidelity Investments), as it happens the timing allows me to watch all the games from start to finish while I am still looking for employment. This thing can't start soon enough!

sorry to hear that dude, i hope things turn around for you and you pick something up. just to let you know - this forum has alot of people that work in a lot of different sectors of the work-force and some are very prominent in what they do. they've always been very willing to help out in the past and i'm sure it would no different now. i would recommend utilizing the resource.

Group A

Mexico
Uruguay
France
South Africa

Group B

Argentina
Nigeria
South Korea
Greece

Group C

England
USA
Algeria
Slovenia

Group D

Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana

Group E

Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

Group F

Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia

Group G

Brazil
Ivory Coast
Portugal
North Korea

Group H

Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile

Round of 16:

1A vs. 2B (1)
1B vs. 2A (2)
1C vs. 2D (3)
1D vs. 2C (4)
1E vs. 2F (5)
1F vs. 2E (6)
1G vs. 2H (7)
1H vs. 2G (8)

Quarter Finals

1 vs. 3 (A)
2 vs. 4 (B)
5 vs. 7 (C)
6 vs. 8 (D)

Semi Finals

A vs. C (I)
B vs. D (II)

Final

I vs. II

My Picks (as of now):

Round of 16

Mexico over Nigeria
Argentina over France
England over Serbia
Germany over United States
Netherlands over Paraguay
Italy over Denmark
Brazil over Chile
Spain over Portugal

Quarter Final

England over Mexico
Argentina over Germany
Netherlands over Brazil
Spain over Italy

Semi Final

England over Netherlands
Spain over Argentina

Final

Spain over England

btw, Spain would have a pretty tough road to the cup after the group stage if this goes as laid out here. they'd have to beat portugal, italy, argentinia, and england in a row.

england's chances of going father this time could be good since they could possibly not face a really top nation until the semi-finals.

it seems to me that this is often how things go for some nations, some lower ones who also sneak in because of the matchups and drawing of the groups. injuries are also affecting my picks, because i might go with ivory coast or ghana or even nigeria to go farther if they weren't missing stars or have big question marks surrounding some's fitness/health.

nyk4ever wrote:

loweyecue wrote:I got laid off at the end of May (just finished three years of contract work with Fidelity Investments), as it happens the timing allows me to watch all the games from start to finish while I am still looking for employment. This thing can't start soon enough!

sorry to hear that dude, i hope things turn around for you and you pick something up. just to let you know - this forum has alot of people that work in a lot of different sectors of the work-force and some are very prominent in what they do. they've always been very willing to help out in the past and i'm sure it would no different now. i would recommend utilizing the resource.

Thanks man, appreciate it. It is all about networking these days and this site is as good as any.

NO WAY is Spain going to beat Italy and Argentina. Either one of those teams over England in the finals is more of a possibility. Don't see Brazil going down to the Dutch either.

loweyecue wrote:NO WAY is Spain going to beat Italy and Argentina. Either one of those teams over England in the finals is more of a possibility. Don't see Brazil going down to the Dutch either.

Spain is too talented to lose to Italy. Argentina has skill but Maradona is out of his mind. I cannot see Spain losing to them either.

Silverfuel wrote:

loweyecue wrote:NO WAY is Spain going to beat Italy and Argentina. Either one of those teams over England in the finals is more of a possibility. Don't see Brazil going down to the Dutch either.

Spain is too talented to lose to Italy. Argentina has skill but Maradona is out of his mind. I cannot see Spain losing to them either.

I completly second your thoughts silver!!! Spain has a very very good team!!!

I think it's so frckin cool what Maradona has done. Every other coach is wrapping their players in cottonwool but he's allowed drinking, smoking, candy, sex, anything you want. Reckon he gets a cut from the dealers and pimps. There gonna be some very happy, very unfit Argies on the pitch.

Spain will go out in the Semis IMO. Never ever discount the krauts. They are machines. Dunno who bu someone will step up and score 4 in a game a la Klose.

I haven't kept up with international soccer at all so can't really comment on it, but if Italy has the personnel to play the type of slow it down defensive game they are famous for they will handle Spain just fine. Spain has historically been the underachievers in the WC, will it change? Time will tell, this will be third WC Spain was favored to win.

ESPN just did a story on Dempsey on TV, I had no idea about his background and his sister's death. Proud to be rooting for this dude. Go Team USA! Finally something good to have come out of Texas.

Hey Fly, its Germans not "Krauts"! ;-) Would be a premier if Germany plays England this tourney and the brit media will for once not come up with WWII front pages! Sorry but this really tiks me off!!!

I really think Spains times as "underachievers" are past since the last Euro!!! Their team is really good and Italy is ... well ... not good! ;-)

The German squad is actually really interesting this tourney... one thing that really distinguishes it from the "traditional" German World Cup teams is their "lack" of experience or their youth...
There is a bunch of young and highly skilled players on the squad (like Özil, Müller, Kroos, Badstuber) and then there are players like Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Mertesacker who will be the "experienced" core of the team despite being still young... thats where the loss of Ballack really hurts!
It might just work but there are two really difficult positions in the starting 5... left back (which will be played by Badstuber who is a 20 year old center back who is highly talented but is a bit slow against agile wings (like seen in the second game against ManU)... and the center striker (which will be played by Klose... I like him... he's a good player but had a terrible season in Munich... will he be back (like he was so many times)in time?!?)
I think there will be a great German squad in the Euros in 2 years and the WC in 4 years but this year its simply to early for the finals... Quaterfinals might work though...

Kidding with the krauts comment Dodge. But be warned, if we beat you in the knockout stages at any point, the media coverage will be smug as all hell!! Think Churchill on the front pages. Sorry bro, but to the victors go the spoils.

Heres my predictions. Be warned that while I think these are the last 16, there WILL be some shocks. I wouldnt be surprised if SA are in there instead of Mexico, they have a hell of a lot to play for. South Korea will get to the last 16 easy imo, Nigeria are shockingly bad right now. Cameroon will go through not Denmark imo, and they have a good chance against Italy too. England have a pretty simple run to the semis, where they will either meet Brazil or a Dutch side high off just beating Brazil.

Mexico over South Korea
Argentina over France
England over Serbia
Germany over United States
Netherlands over Paraguay
Cameroon over Italy
Brazil over Chile
Portugal over Spain

Quarter Final

England over Mexico
Argentina over Germany
Brazil over Netherlands
Portugal over Cameroon

Semi Final

England over Brazil
Argentina over Portugal

Final

England over Argentina (penalties!!)

There. I said it. England are gonna win the World Cup. Oh my, just saying it sends shivers down my spine.

Top Scorer: Leo Messi
Player of the tournament: Wayne Rooney

You have South Korea over Greece. I hope we can make you eat your words man.

Childs2Dudley wrote:You have South Korea over Greece. I hope we can make you eat your words man.

Bro, I hope you both get in over France! Thats the magic of the Cup.

BTW. The World Cup is expected to average 1.1 BILLION viewers per day!!!! Thats without factoring in online rights etc. Thats just a jawdropping stat.

Follow the live text here. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football...

Its brilliant. Cant reccommend it enough.